IF the Sequester kicks in, there will be a lot of real damage. Reserach, defense companies, manufacturing related to defense, medical research (the city of Boston predicted yesterday they would lose 60,000 research jobs alone), and many others.
Many of our nations veterans will also pay the price:
Many federal workers facing furloughs are veterans
Over 85% of the DoD workers affected work outside the beltway in maintenance, logistics, nursing, contracting, and other jobs. 27% of those facing a paycut of 1/5th of salary are veterans, many of them disabled.
A reporter for "The Hill" asked Nancy Pelosi if Congress should take a paycut.
This was her response:
Pelosi: Congressional pay cut undermines dignity of the job
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she opposes a cut in congressional pay because it would diminish the dignity of lawmakers' jobs. "I don't think we should do it; I think we should respect the work we do," Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol. "I think it's necessary for us to have the dignity of the job that we have rewarded." The comments were made in the context of the looming sequester, which would force across-the-board cuts affecting most federal offices, including Congress. With lawmakers nowhere near a deal to avert those cuts, federal agencies are bracing for ways to absorb them with minimum damage to programs and personnel. Pelosi, whose husband is a wealthy real-estate developer, was quick to note that a cut in her own pay would be far less significant than that for both staffers and less wealthy members of Congress. "It's a hard question to ask me because most of my colleagues are the breadwinners in their families," she said. "A pay cut to me doesn't mean as much."